Fostering global collaboration and competition in science, technology and innovation is a policy priority. In research, processes of collaboration and competition are closely interconnected, as suggested by Robert Merton’s (1942) hybrid notion of ‘a competitive cooperation’. Research groups, companies and networks are collaborating to benefit from bringing together the highly specialized expertise and resources needed to address complex trans-national problems. At the same time, they are competing with each other for reputations, prestige, priority of discovery, best researchers and funding. Complex dynamics of collaboration and competition have been behind many discoveries and new technologies from the space race to the invention of computers.

While global collaboration and competition in research has a long history, today it is intensifying due to increasing scientific complexity, political and economic globalization, as well as the expanded use of information and communication technologies. Public policy promotes global cooperation and competition in research as a way to increase quality, creativity and efficiency.

This panel invites contributions that analyse whether and how diverse forms of global collaboration and competition (e.g. scholarly and business R&D networks, large-scale research infrastructures, researcher exchanges, joint laboratories, intergovernmental agreements) support the aforementioned policy objectives. Interdisciplinary papers are sought that draw on a variety of research methods, theories and empirical studies across the world. Relevant questions include: What are the driving forces (e.g. policies, business, self-organisation of the research community) behind the intensification of global research collaboration and competition? How do the processes of global research collaboration and competition interact? What are the tensions between cooperation and competition in global research? What are the negative consequences of intensifying global research collaboration and competition (e.g. fraud, increasing geographical concentration)? What challenges does increasing research cooperation and competition present for science, technology and innovation policy practice and studies?